Electronic commerce: Survey says external integration still lacking among businesses
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 6/2/2008 2:03:00 PM
B2B e-commerce specialist GXS recently conducted a survey during enterprise systems supplier SAP's SAPPHIRE 2008 conference in Orlando in which 95 percent of respondents indicated they trade electronically with less than half of their customer base. In addition, 61 percent said they trade electronically with less than 10 percent of their suppliers.
GXS believes these findings demonstrate an opportunity for further growth and deployment of external B2B integration initiatives.
GXS recently announced SAP Certified Integration status for GXS Trading Grid, the goal being to ease integration of customers’ external business partner transactions with their ERP systems. More than half of respondents said they are planning to upgrade or consolidate their SAP solution-based systems, demonstrating the greater emphasis placed on internal integration projects, despite the additional cost savings, customer satisfaction, and supply chain efficiency benefits to be gained through electronic B2B integration.
GXS Trading Grid supports creation and adoption of on-demand supply chain management solutions for companies of any size, and is used by more than 35,000 customers to exchange goods and services, gain visibility into global logistics operations, and synchronize product data.
“The benefits of electronic B2B integration have been demonstrated in countless reports and actual case studies, yet many companies still have not introduced basic automation among their customers and business partners,” says Joe King, senior VP of sales at GXS. “GXS works with thousands of companies to help them automate their supply chain, but it is clear from this survey that there are still thousands more who are encumbered by manual processes and lack visibility into their supply chain operations. The effects of this include increased costs, slower order-to-cash cycles, increased carbon footprint, and diminished customer service. GXS has the range of solutions and the global presence to address these challenges for companies across the globe.”
